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1992-1995 BSc Biology, University of Wales, Bangor.1995-1996 MSc Biological Computation, University of York.1997 Teaching Assistant, University of York.1998-2001 DPhil Theoretical Ecology, University of York.2001-2006 Postdoctoral Research Associate, NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London.2006-2009 NERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Sheffield.2008-2014 Lecturer in Ecology, Unviversity College London.

Research group activity concentrates on understanding the
key biological processes that maintain biodiversity. In other words, what acts
as the glue to hold ecosystems together? We are also interested in the factors
that determine species abundance in space and time. There is a particular
emphasis on diverse plant communities such as tropical forests, but we also
study bacteria, protist and vertebrate communities. Key question answered include:

1. When can we infer biological processes from spatial
and/or temporal snapshots of ecological communities? Long ecological time
series are rare, except for a relatively few flagship species, and are even
rarer for ecological assemblages (communities, food webs). For many years
ecologists have taken spatial and/or temporal snapshots of the state of various
ecosystems to try and infer the biological processes that regulate their
dynamics. Key questions remain. For example, what are the spatial/temporal
scales that allow a reliable inference of the key processes operating? What are
the 'best' patterns to use to discriminate between competing hypotheses?
Example projects include the development of spatial statistics and model
fitting methods to apply to data from tropical rain forests where >200,000
individual trees may be mapped.

2. Population and community dynamics of threatened species
and groups. We know there are many species currently at risk of extinction, and
we have limited resources to monitor them and prevent their extinction. Recent/current examples include (i) understanding the
importance of supplementary feeding and how feeding needs change over a season
using the example of the (very) charismatic, and (very) rare Mauritius olive
white eye; (ii) developing methods to understand and predict how much sampling
is required to infer an accurate picture of ecological trends (ie changes
population abundances) for large taxonomic groups (eg terrestrial vertebrates).

3. What are the effects of human disturbance on ecological
communities? The human species is highly invasive and an excellent ecosystem
engineer, but how is it affecting the other 50million+ species on planet earth,
and more importantly how it is affecting the key ecosystem services on which it
depends? We address these questions largely using field data on species
presence/absence and abundance as well as taking into consideration functional
diversity (ie what the species 'do') and phylogenetic diversity (evolutionary
uniqueness). Recent and current examples include (i) developing theory on how
multiple ecosystem stressors are expected to interact in freshwater systems;
(ii) investigating the role of disturbance on cichlid communities in Lake
Tanganyika; (iii) are taxonomic groups such as lichen good indicators of
environmental pollution (run in part via undergraduate projects).

Applications to join the research team: We are always keen
to hear from individuals who are interesting in helping us answer these
questions (and more besides). Those interested should have excellent skills in
at least one of the following: field skills and data collection; mathematical
modelling; statistical modelling; computer programming.